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Bazetta road rage leads to crash involving 7 people, including injured child
By Ed Runyan
BAZETTA
The state highway patrol says individuals taking a child for medical care may have set off a chain of events that led to road rage and a crash on state Route 82/5 Monday night.
Trooper Daniel Jesse of the Southington Post said one of the vehicles involved was a pickup truck containing four people, one of which was a small boy who suffered a head injury at home.
His mother and others were taking him for medical care as they entered Route 82 eastbound, also known as the Route 5 Bypass, a little before 9 p.m.
The truck was driven by a male, 26, of Warren. His driving upset the driver of a Saturn SUV, a male, 21, of Warren, Jesse said.
The patrol is not releasing the names of the drivers because a decision on filing charges has not been made, Jesse said.
The two drivers passed each other several times as they traveled toward the Larchmont Avenue exit, the trooper said. Eventually, the SUV driver “brake-checked” the truck, which means the driver hit the brakes in front of the truck, Jesse said.
The truck made contact with the rear corner of the SUV, causing the SUV to spin out of control and enter the median. The SUV hit the dividing cable barrier and overturned in the road, ending up on its side.
The SUV had serious damage. The truck had disabling damage.
None of the four people in the truck or three people in the SUV suffered serious injuries, the patrol said.
The boy was transported to the hospital for treatment of his original head injury.
The SUV driver told a 911 operator he has sore ribs, “but everybody’s up and walking.”
He also told a dispatcher the pickup operator was “driving dangerously to begin with, was trying to hit us getting onto the highway.”
Bazetta Township police and fire assisted with the accident, which caused Route 82 to be closed for about 90 minutes while crews cleared the roadway.
Jesse said his advice for avoiding road rage might not apply directly to Monday’s incident, but he suggests allowing enough time when traveling to get somewhere without having to hurry.
“First and foremost [road rage] begins because someone’s already on edge,” Jesse said.
But if a road-rage incident occurs, “do not react,” he said. “Ignore them if they are driving wrecklessly.”
Ways to avoid the conflict are to slow down, get off of the highway, or turn off at an intersection, he said.